LISTENING POST: Jaimz Deen–"Out After Dark"

Dude reached out to me a couple of months ago based on the interview I did with his friend Bryan Edwards. He's got a concept album in the works called "The Crisis". It's on a future, dystopian vibe, much in the same way Janelle Monae's project is. He's described it as "Anime meets Donnie Darko meets Purple Rain meets The Wall". For all of you Donnie Darko fans, you'll hear his nod to Tears For Fears in this track.

I have to say: This is an ambitous project, and I'm rooting for him to pull it off. Failure–and I've told him this–means that he ends up with something that many people will probably say sounds like derivative Janelle Monae. In addition to her, you've got who? R. Kelly and Prince Paul are the folks who most immediately come to mind as doing concept albums, so the field's not crowded. The flipside is that concept albums are hard to do because they require that the artist tell a story over the course of 10-12 songs, which is why most don't make the attempt. Think of it like a movie, which has a beginning, middle and end. Point is: If it works, Jaimz's album could be very exciting. And that's what I'm hoping for.